Naughty or Nice? How Automakers Stacked Up in 2015

We made our list, we checked it twice—now we’re going to find out which automakers were naughty or nice. 2015 was an interesting year in the industry, one that was filled with scandal worthy enough of a two-hour silver screen feature (seriously).

But with the naughty, there was plenty of nice to go along with it. These eight automakers have made our list—whether it be for good or bad. We’ve got our bags of coal on hand.

Volkswagen: Naughty

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Self-explanatory, really. Dieselgate became the biggest automotive scandal since the whole GM fiasco back in 2008. It’s still an ongoing process, but Volkswagen has a lot of work to still do if they have any hopes of being on our nice list next year (or any year really).

Chevrolet: Nice

2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS

Christmas came early when Chevrolet unveiled the all-new Camaro. For us, it was a return to form for the American sports car. The Camaro, and Chevrolet as a whole, are definitely on our nice list for 2015.

It was refreshing when we got behind the wheel of the 2016 Honda Civic. Honda, as a whole, truly is back to where it once was. We fully believe the Civic is just the beginning of a serious onslaught of great products.

Tesla: Naughty

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It’s difficult to put Tesla on the naughty list—but here’s why we had to do it. The promise of a more affordable Model III has been long in the making, yet we still haven’t seen any progress.

The good news for 2015, at least, was that we finally got a chance to see the Model X SUV in production guise; oh, and did we mention it costs nearly $100,000? Not nearly as nice to the consumer as Tesla would have hoped.

Mazda: Nice

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MX-5, CX-3—Mazda is on an absolute roll with its product. They were even nice enough to let Fiat use its Miata platform for the new 124.

Jaguar: Naughty

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Jaguar is on the naughty list for a completely different reason than the others. They’re lineup is pretty much impeccable; F-Type, F-Pace, XE. The problem we have with the British marque is its half-hearted attempt to stick its nose back into racing. Formula E is definitely an interesting approach, but if you’re going to do it, go all in.

Porsche: Nice

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We knew it was only a matter of time before Porsche delivered on its promise. The Mission E electric sedan will hit the market in just a few years—hopefully it’s the Tesla rival everyone is making it out to be.

We’re on the fence with Acura; nice for finally bringing the new NSX out to play, but naughty for making us wait so long (plus we hear it’s not all that cracked up to be). Maybe instead of coal, we’ll just fill your stocking with hard candy.